Electrically operated razors are sufficiently known as such in the prior art. These typically have a shearing or cutting head on which cutting devices are fixed that are supported such that they can move in a translational, oscillating or rotating manner. Typical cutting devices have a top blade that is perforated or provided with apertures and a bottom blade, the top and bottom blade being capable of being moved relative to one another by means of an electrical drive, such that, when hairs enter into the apertures of the top blade, these hairs can be cut off by the cutting device.
During the shaving process, a majority of users of such electrically operated razors register a warm feeling on the skin to be shaved. This is often perceived by the user as uncomfortable and associated by the user with skin irritations. The perceptible warmth is produced in particular as a result of mechanical friction between the top and bottom blade.
Various cooling means for electrically operated razors are already described in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,568 describes the use of an electrically operable cooling element which is thermally coupled via contact plates to the externally disposed shearing foil or to the top blade of the shearing or cutting head. In this way such portions of the razor which arrive in contact with the skin of the user during shaving can be actively cooled.
A similar approach is described in DE 101 47 286 A1. There it is additionally provided to blow cold air from an electrical cooling element onto the skin area to be shaved, by means of a fan.
However, the cooling by means of a flow of cooling air is likewise perceived by the user to be uncomfortable and disruptive. The cooling of a top blade, for instance a shearing foil, that arrives in contact with the skin to be shaved turns out to be problematic from a practical standpoint since the perforated foil is not particularly well suited for heat conduction, in particular due to its perforated design.
Moreover, it is to be noted that a top blade in the form of a shearing foil is already subject to a heating during operation of the razor. Therefore, if one wanted to achieve a cooling effect that can be sensed on the skin by means of a shearing foil, the heating of the shearing foil that is already present would first need to be counteracted by means of an active cooling, and a cooling function that goes beyond this would need to be provided in order for the user to be able to experience a cooling effect at all. The use of a cutting element that heats up during operation of the razor as a cooling element for skin areas turns out to be disadvantageous in this respect.
A cooling device for a razor, which cooling device contains a plurality of Peltier elements, is known from CH 390722 A. During shaving these thermocouples should contact the skin with what are known as their cold points without an interposition of an additional (passive) cooling element and should thereby cool the skin. These Peltier elements are arranged in each case around the periphery of the shearing system such that they are electrically insulated from one another. They must be electrically connected in each case to the power source, and moreover every single Peltier element must also be electrically insulated from the skin (for example via a corresponding coating) in order to prevent a shorting of the Peltier elements across the skin. This, of course, also degrades the heat transmission. Moreover, such a design is extremely complex and costly.